1778, "confirm by sanction, make valid or binding;" 1797 as "to permit authoritatively;" from sanction (n.). Seemingly contradictory meaning "impose a penalty on" is from 1956 but is rooted in an old legalistic sense of the noun. Related: Sanctioned; sanctioning.

Since the time of Constantine and by medieval Church law, fugitives or debtors enjoyed immunity from arrest in certain churches, hence transferred sense of "immunity from punishment" (late 14c.). Exceptions were made in England in cases of treason and sacrilege. General (non-ecclesiastical) sense of "place of refuge or protection" is attested from 1560s; as "land set aside for wild plants or animals to breed and live" it is recorded from 1879.

Old English sand, from Proto-Germanic *sandam (source also of Old Norse sandr, Old Frisian sond, Middle Dutch sant, Dutch zand, German Sand), from PIE *bhs-amadho- (source also of Greek psammos "sand;" Latin sabulum "coarse sand," source of Italian sabbia, French sable), suffixed form of root *bhes- "to rub."

Historically, the line between sand and gravel cannot be distinctly drawn. Used figuratively in Old English in reference to innumerability and instability. General Germanic, but not attested in Gothic, which used in this sense malma, related to Old High German melm "dust," the first element of the Swedish city name Malmö (the second element meaning "island"), and to Latin molere "to grind." Metaphoric for "innumerability" since Old English. Sand dollar, type of flat sea-urchin, so called from 1884, so called for its shape; sand dune attested from 1830.

also sandblind, "half-blind," c. 1400, probably altered (by influence of sand) from Old English *samblind, the first element from West Germanic *sami-, from PIE *semi- (see semi-); compare Old English samlæred "half-taught, badly instructed," samstorfen "half-dead."

type of shoe, late 14c., from Old French sandale, from Latin sandalium "a slipper, sandal," from Greek sandalion, diminutive of sandalon "sandal," of unknown origin, perhaps from Persian. Related: Sandals.

1860, "furnish with sandbags," from sandbag (n.). Meaning "pretend weakness," 1970s perhaps is extended from poker-playing sense of "refrain from raising at the first opportunity in hopes of raising more steeply later" (1940), which perhaps is from sandbagger in the sense of "bully or ruffian who uses a sandbag as a weapon to knock his intended victim unconscious" (1882). Hence "to fell or stun with a blow from a sandbag" (1887). Related: Sandbagged; sandbagging.

member of a Nicaraguan revolutionary group, 1928, from Spanish, from name of Augusto César Sandino (1893-1934), Nicaraguan nationalist leader; the modern organization of this name was founded in 1963. Related: Sandanistas.

bringer of sleep in nursery lore, 1861, from sand (n.) in reference to hard grains found in the eyelashes on waking; first attested in a translation from the Norwegian of Andersen (his Ole Lukoie "Ole Shut-eye," about a being who makes children sleepy, came out 1842), and perhaps partly from German Sandmann. More common in U.S.; dustman with the same sense is attested from 1821.

1762, said to be a reference to John Montagu (1718-1792), Fourth Earl Sandwich, who was said to be an inveterate gambler who ate slices of cold meat between bread at the gaming table during marathon sessions rather than get up for a proper meal (this account dates to 1770). It was in his honor that Cook named the Hawaiian islands (1778) when Montagu was first lord of the Admiralty. The family name is from the place in Kent, Old English Sandwicæ, literally "sandy harbor (or trading center)." For pronunciation, see cabbage. Sandwich board, one carried before and one behind, is from 1864.

late 15c. as a nickname for Alexander; as the typical name for a Scotsman from 1785, also drawing on the hair-color sense of sandy (adj.). Also Sawney, and with diminutive form Saunder preserved in surnames.

cold drink made from sweetened and diluted red wine, 1954, from Spanish, literally "bleeding," from sangre "blood," from Vulgar Latin sanguem, from Latin sanguis (see sanguinary). The drink so named for its color. Earlier as sangre (1736).

"blood-red," late 14c. (late 12c. as a surname), from Old French sanguin (fem. sanguine), from Latin sanguineus "of blood," also "bloody, bloodthirsty," from sanguis (genitive sanguinis) "blood" (see sanguinary). Meaning "cheerful, hopeful, confident" first attested c. 1500, because these qualities were thought in medieval physiology to spring from an excess of blood as one of the four humors. Also in Middle English as a noun, "type of red cloth" (early 14c.).

1580s, from Late Hebrew sanhedrin (gedola) "(great) council," from Greek synedrion "assembly, council," literally "sitting together," from syn- "together" (see syn-) + hedra "seat" (see cathedral). Abolished at the destruction of Jerusalem, C.E. 70. The proper form is sanhedrin; the error began as a false correction when the Greek word was taken into Mishanic Hebrew, where -in is a form of the plural suffix of which -im is the more exact form.